Breath of Hope: Art Making for the Revolution

What is hope in these violent times?

This is the prompt I explored with a kindred friend early on in October. When I was in a crash course to educate myself on the ongoing genocide being carried out against Palestine. With awareness that it was my whiteness that privileged me from even learning about Palestine before then. And recognition of the harmful cost of my privileged ignorance. Being taught by all the profound and ongoing, invisibilized labor of BIPOC and QTBIPOC healers, educators, leaders, and activists before me and all around me. Who put their jobs, reputations, rights, and lives at stake to speak out for what is right and just. No matter the cost. To whom we owe everything.

This poem came from needing a vision to hold on to through all of this. A guiding light to support me in actions for liberation. A vision that was different than the violent reality we were (and are) in. It came from witnessing and honoring of the steadfastness and hope of the Palestinian people. The seeds of olive trees, messages through song, and kites honoring souls taken. And it came from the powerful visions of clarity, empowerment, and collectivism of disability justice activists and QTBIPOC activists. Seeds of accessibility, justice, and community.

The Breath of Hope

As we continue to live within and through these times - we need the expanded breath of hope to guide us in our actions. It is not enough to tear down the systems that are designed to oppress. It is not enough to grieve all that has been lost. Oppression continues to steal the breath of aliveness from us. We of course must continue the fight. And we must have spaces to grieve. But - we also need a future to work towards. A breath of hope to live within.

For me, hope is what I have witnessed in how people are working towards this future of liberation. The communities risking everything to fight. Spaces that prioritize accessibility for all in the movement. Actions rooted in disability justice tenets. The collective healing circles for grief, and rage. And the cross-movement solidarity and education - all oppression is connected. The creations of artists who speak the "that-which-cannot-be-put-to-words-ness "of this time. People coming together across identity, time, and space to keep each other safe. Against all odds, the people rising. The seeds of liberation blossoming through how we meet this time.

That is the future. The breath of hope. Already here.

Photo by Mohan Reddy on Pexels.com

Prompt

This week's prompt is to create an arts piece in response to the question, "What is hope in these violent times? And how can it carry me through actions for liberation?". Or to respond to the poem I wrote on this theme below. You may want to write, use sound and voice, explore movement, or paint your response. Choose a modality that holds aliveness for you. There is no expectation. This piece is for you, to help center and guide you on your journey towards collective liberation.

On Hope

After these last few years - I no longer feel an outcome dependent hope.

I am instead traveling an active practice of fierce, embodied hope.

Seeing the hope as already here. Seeing the world we want and dream of as already alive. Not in what is happening - but in our reaction to it. In our response to it.

Not dependent on the outside circumstances which we must continue to fight against. But in a living embodiment already centered in ourselves.

Sacred.

Protected.

Untouchable.

Our future world can not be dependent on the circumstances defined by those who are not traveling with us.

Our future world is here, now, in how we meet this life. In this moment. Through this horror. Together.

With hope as the act of our being, and heartbreak as simply the circumstance.

These people all around us - in person and virtually - they are already the world we dreamed of.

We are simply trying to change the timeline in which we've found each other.

Hope is a living, breathing being. In you. In me. In each other. In the Land. In the Collective.

It changes us. It grows within us. It ensouls us.

It is the root of who we are. And no one can ever take that away.

Further Support

Next week(ish) I’ll post the new explorations for April. Throughout the month I'll try to post weekly(ish) art making prompts on themes related to this time of ongoing revolution. On the last blog post of each month(ish), I will share an art piece to respond to. This may be something I’ve made, or something I’ve found that speaks to me. Your invitation will be to create your own piece in response to the piece I share. These posts may not be weekly, but I'll try to post them as often as I can each month.

If you are seeking more information on the ongoing occupation and genocide of Palestine, Jewish Voices for Peace and Arab Resource and Organizing Center are powerful places to start.

As always, if you would like individual support on your healing journey as a joy-full, radical empath, intuitive, or sensitive, I am here for you. Please reach out. Additionally, you are welcome to join the waitlist for Soul Sanctuary, my new ecospiritual and expressive arts group for LGBTTSQIA empaths, intuitives, and magic makers on the path to liberation. As a queer, enby, intuitive therapist, I deeply understand the challenges of this journey. I would be honored to support you.

In justice and healing,

Phoenix